November 04, 2013

The freaks come out at night, as evidenced by the 150 costumed Yelp Elite who brought a nightmare to 13th street during Yelp's Ghoulish Groove @ Building 212! With plenty of libations, edibles and entertainment, a scary good time was had by all as we celebrated the horrors of Halloween.Building 212, a high design, modern event space, evokes an urban industrial wherehouse and was easily transformed into a Halloween haven complete with skeletons, cobwebs, scattered piles of candy and swag, a spider that fell from the ceiling at random to attack unsuspecting guests and a giant video projection of classic horror movies on the wall. It was truly a sight to see the space filled with so many who came dressed to impress while grooving to the always funky beats of DJ Micro.

Whistles were wetted with wicked red whiskey drinks (served over ice with a maraschino cherry) courtesy of Buffalo Trace Bourbon Whiskey ("delicious and strong" applauds Priya R). Drakes Brewing Co., based in San Leandro, offered up a fabulous selection of their eclectic brews, including their IPA, Blonde, Hefe, Stout, Amber and signature "Denoginizer."

One of the many highlights of the evening was a wonderful array of dishes from Noodles & Company, a new Elite favorite with a location in Arden-Arcade. Their various noodle dishes and sandwiches undoubtedly gained many loyal fans. "Noodles & Company really brought their A-game tonight," shares Frankie P. "The staff was so friendly and kept us all well fed on chicken Cesar wraps and spicy vegan noodles. They paired perfectly with the blonde ale generously poured by Drake's."

Another standout hit was the photo-booth run by Curtis Tarpley of Express Event Imaging, who Jana T notes "snapped super quick and quite precise shots." Guests lined up to capture the energy of the evening. After each shot, Curtis generously printed the images for them to take home. Our roaming photographer, Asia McGowan of Photostudio29, did another wonderful job documenting everyone in action.

Props to Jason Jonas and KIND Healthy Snacks for passing out samples of your tasty bars. Finally, a special thanks goes out as always to my assistants Ashley N and Eddie H for their work behind the scenes!